One of the most talked-about features in the League of Legends ecosystem this year has finally gone live. Riot Games officially rolled out WASD movement controls to all servers on Thursday, December 4. As noted by League's Design Director August Dean Ayala in his announcement post, the developers are now closely watching the global community’s reactions to this major addition.

Back on August 11, Riot had officially confirmed that WASD movement was coming to League after months of internal development and testing. The feature first hit the Public Beta Environment (PBE) on August 27, where players could experiment with it for the first time. Now, it’s entered its second phase and is available in unranked modes. This has been the longest feature rollout in the game’s history, largely because Riot has been gathering extensive feedback and carefully adjusting the system before wider release. The team even mentioned that WASD might never make it to ranked play if the difference between it and the traditional control method proved too drastic.

A change that worries veterans

Riot’s intent is clear: modernize League and make it more accessible to new players by introducing one of PC gaming’s most familiar control schemes. Still, ever since the initial announcement, many longtime players have voiced strong concerns about how dramatically this could affect gameplay balance and match quality.

The debate has largely focused on kiting. When WASD first appeared on the PBE in August, clips quickly circulated showing how effortless kiting became, particularly for ADC champions. One viral video showed Juš "Crownie" Marušič and Marc "Caedrel" Lamont testing the feature for the first time, piloting a Kalista that looked mechanically flawless. Even Crownie admitted immediately: “This is broken.”

Veteran players like streamer Nayil have gone further, calling WASD “the biggest mistake in Riot Games’ history.” Harsh takes like this have been circulating on X for months. But not everyone is against the change — some see it as a refreshing and skill-deepening addition that could evolve the game. French streamer Willy "Skyyart" Dias, for instance, expressed excitement back when the feature leaked in May 2025, saying it could bring League closer to other MOBAs like Supervive or Battlerite. Now that the update is official across the globe, the community’s overall verdict remains to be seen.

What is WASD?

On a standard keyboard, W, A, S, and D sit in a neat square under your left hand. They act as directional keys, mimicking the function of arrows but with more comfort and flexibility. In most games, that means an intuitive directional control system; an easy conversion from console games:

With this setup, the player's fingers rest naturally over adjacent keys, usually allowing them to easily reach abilities, attack buttons, jump, crouch, and more. This is why WASD became the default across genres like shooters, MMOs, and action-RPGs.